Africa Speaks!

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Africa Speaks! is a 1930 American documentary directed by Walter Futter and narrated by Lowell Thomas. The film, made for Mascot Pictures and distributed by Columbia Pictures, runs about 75 minutes and was produced on a budget of under $50,000. It follows a 1928 expedition led by Paul L. Hoefler to Africa, capturing wildlife and native tribes in the Serengeti and Uganda over roughly fourteen months. Cinematography was by Paul L. Hoefler and editing by Walter Futter.

Some scenes, including an apparent lion attack on a native, were staged at the Selig Zoo in Los Angeles using a toothless lion. Hoefler later wrote a book about the expedition, published in 1931, also titled Africa Speaks. The film’s title was parodied in the 1940 cartoon Africa Squeaks and the 1949 Abbott and Costello film Africa Screams. In 2015, Alpha Video released a Region 0 DVD-R of the film on July 7. The release date of the film was August 15, 1930.